Far-right activist Hervé Lalin, known as Ryssen, and a priest, Olivier Rioult, were sentenced on Tuesday to fines for insulting and inciting violence against Jews, for remarks made in a video posted on YouTube at the summer 2019.
Hervé Lalin, a former member of the Front National, who presents himself as a writer and director, was sentenced to 2,000 euros in day-fines (a fine which, if not paid, turns into days in prison). Father Rioult, author in particular of a work entitled “of the Jewish question, synthesis”, for his part was fined 1,000 euros suspended.
The comments in question by the two convicted men were made in a video posted on YouTube on August 21, 2019. In it, they discussed the Jewish people, calling them “unbearable”, “abominable” or even comparing the Jews to “snakes”.
“The acts of public insults towards a group of people on account of their religion are thus characterized in all their elements”, estimated the court in its decision, underlining that Hervé Lalin had himself recognized during the hearing that these comments could “cause controversy and be the subject of legal proceedings”.
A repeat offender already convicted several times
In addition, the two men present the Jews “as a problem whose solution requires continual combat and extermination”, which constitutes an “exhortation to violence”, according to the judgment.
Hervé Lalin has been convicted nearly fifteen times for similar offences: defamation, insult or incitement to hatred on the grounds of race or religion.
Last May, he was sentenced on appeal to one year’s imprisonment, including six months, to be served at home with an electronic bracelet, for contesting a crime against humanity and anti-Semitic insult in particular.
Incarcerated in September 2020 in execution of three sentences pronounced between 2017 and 2020, the man in his fifties was released from prison in mid-April.